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Thrust reverser of the Boeing 737 involved in the Jacksonville crash landing was broken, NTSB says

Jacksonville - An NTSB official said that the feature that helps aircraft slow down was not operable on the Boeing 737 that skidded into the St. Johns river in Florida during landing on May 4.

Last week on Saturday, a Boeing 737 of the Miami Air International with 143 people on board slid off the tarmac and fell into the St. Johns river after landing at a naval airbase in Jacksonville, Florida.

According to the local Police department, 21 passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Passengers were military personnel and their family members from Guantanama Base, in Cuba.

An NTSB (National Transport Safety Board) official said one of the thrust reversers which are meant to slow the aircraft down on the runway after landing was not working.

"The aircraft had been in maintenance and the maintenance log noted that the left-hand thrust reverser was inoperative," Bruce Landsberg, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters.

Landsberg also said the NTSB investigators would be checking the maintenance logs of the aircraft for the days before the incident and the condition of the thrust reversers would be analyzed in particular.

The pilot requested runway change before landing but air traffic control advised other runway since there were naval equipment on it. Therefore, pilots had to land at the other runway which is 1,200 feet shorter.

The plane which was involved in the incident was a Boeing 737-800 in service for around 18 years.